Ukraine at 35: The Unbreakable Spirit of a Nation Under Siege
Thirty-five years ago, the people of Ukraine stood at the threshold of history, emerging from the shadows of the Soviet collapse with dreams of independence, prosperity, and self-determination. They inherited a land of remarkable abundance—fertile black soil that could feed millions, a sophisticated industrial base, and a rich cultural heritage that had survived centuries of domination. Yet today, as Ukraine marks its thirty-fifth year of independence, the picture looks dramatically different from those hopeful early days. The cities that once hummed with industrial activity now echo with air raid sirens. The fields that produced bountiful harvests are now scarred by trenches and craters. And the Ukrainian people, once numbering over fifty million, have been scattered across the globe as refugees, while those who remain face the daily terror of missile strikes and the existential threat of annihilation. This transformation did not happen by accident or through some internal failure of the Ukrainian state, as Kremlin propaganda would have the world believe. Rather, it represents the direct and devastating consequence of a brutal war of aggression waged by the Russian Federation—a war that has tested the very foundations of Ukrainian statehood and, remarkably, revealed the extraordinary resilience of a people determined to survive.
The narrative that Russian media outlets have crafted around Ukraine’s independence anniversary follows a familiar and sinister pattern. They paint a picture of a country that squandered its Soviet inheritance, fell prey to Nazi ideology, and now exists merely as a puppet state controlled by Western powers and led by a regime that cares nothing for its own people. In this twisted telling, Ukraine’s population has supposedly dwindled from fifty-two million to barely eighteen million, and the government in Kyiv is portrayed as callously sending its men to die in a senseless war while refusing every opportunity for peace. The Kremlin’s propagandists have constructed an elaborate fiction in which Ukraine failed its test as a sovereign nation, while Russia stands ready as the peacemaker waiting to rescue the situation. This narrative is not merely inaccurate—it is a deliberate distortion designed to shift blame for the war from the aggressor to the victim, to undermine Western support for Ukraine, and to provide a veneer of justification for an unprovoked invasion that has caused unimaginable suffering across the European continent.
In reality, Ukraine’s journey over these thirty-five years has been a testament to the resilience of democracy and national identity in the face of overwhelming pressure. The country did not fail its test of statehood; rather, it has faced a test that no nation should have to endure—the unrelenting aggression of a larger neighbor determined to erase its very existence. From the moment Ukraine began charting its independent course and looking toward Europe, the Russian Federation employed every tool at its disposal to bring Kyiv back under its control. Economic pressure, energy blackmail, political subversion, and information warfare all preceded the military escalation that began with the illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014. That year marked a turning point, as Russia moved from attempting to influence Ukraine’s political direction to actively seizing its territory and fomenting separatism in the eastern Donbas region. The full-scale invasion of February 2022 was not an unexpected departure from Russian policy, but rather the culmination of a strategy that had been developing for years—a strategy aimed at preventing Ukraine from becoming a successful, independent, European-oriented state at Russia’s doorstep.
The claim that Ukraine has failed to maintain its population or provide for its citizens conveniently ignores the central fact that Russia’s military actions have caused the demographic catastrophe. Millions of Ukrainians have fled the country to escape bombing, occupation, and persecution. Tens of thousands have died in the fighting. Entire cities have been reduced to rubble, and critical infrastructure—power plants, water systems, hospitals, schools—has been deliberately targeted for destruction. This is not the result of Ukrainian mismanagement or corruption, but of Russian military strategy that has explicitly treated civilian areas as legitimate targets. The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Russian leaders for war crimes, including the unlawful deportation of Ukrainian children. The European Court of Human Rights has documented Russia’s effective control over occupied territories since 2014. These international legal findings stand in stark contrast to the propaganda narrative that portrays Ukraine’s suffering as self-inflicted.
Perhaps the most insidious aspect of the Russian narrative is its insistence that Ukraine refuses to pursue peace while Russia eagerly seeks an end to the fighting. This inversion of reality serves to confuse international audiences and weaken support for Ukraine’s defensive struggle. The truth is far different: Ukraine has repeatedly demonstrated its commitment to peace, entering into negotiation frameworks and supporting various ceasefire proposals. Meanwhile, Russia has consistently rejected any genuine path to peace that does not involve Ukraine’s capitulation—accepting the loss of its territory, renouncing its sovereignty, and surrendering its right to determine its own future. The countless Russian missile attacks on Ukrainian cities, the massacres in Bucha and other occupied territories, and the kidnapping of Ukrainian children all demonstrate that Russia’s objectives are not peaceful coexistence but subjugation. The Kremlin speaks of preserving Ukrainian statehood while simultaneously declaring that Ukraine has no historical right to exist as an independent nation. Its offer of “peace” is nothing more than a demand for Ukraine’s surrender dressed in diplomatic language.
The resilience that Ukraine has shown in the face of Russian aggression stands as a powerful refutation of the propaganda claim that it is unworthy of statehood. When Vladimir Putin expected to take Kyiv in a matter of days, he was met with fierce resistance from a society that had developed a genuine national consciousness and a will to defend its freedom. Despite suffering staggering losses and facing what initially seemed like insurmountable odds, Ukraine has managed to hold its own against one of the world’s largest military powers. The nation has demonstrated not only military courage but institutional strength, maintaining democratic processes, supporting civil society, and continuing to function as a state even amid relentless bombardment. The American Founding Fathers would recognize in Ukraine’s struggle something deeply familiar—a people who understood that the true test of nationhood is not the absence of difficulties, but the capacity to overcome them in defense of fundamental principles.
The human face of this war reveals the profound disconnect between propaganda and reality. For every tale of forced conscription and callous leadership that appears in Russian media, there are countless stories of Ukrainian volunteers rushing to defend their homes, of soldiers writing letters to their children vowing that they will not have to know the fear of occupation, of ordinary citizens documenting war crimes so that the world will not forget the atrocities being committed. The Ukrainian resistance has been a genuinely popular movement, rooted in a society that has made a conscious choice about its future. Young people study in underground classrooms during missed strikes. Farmers continue to plant crops in fields near the front lines. Doctors perform surgeries by generator light. Bereaved families bury their fallen soldiers wrapped in national flags and sing their national anthem through their tears. This is the reality of Ukrainian statehood that the Kremlin cannot understand and cannot allow to exist—a nation that loves its freedom more than it fears its powerful neighbor.
The disinformation circulating around Ukraine’s thirty-fifth anniversary of independence must be understood for what it is: a propaganda offensive designed to delegitimize Ukrainian sovereignty and prepare the ground for continued Russian aggression. The Russian media machine, operating under state control and employing analysts from government institutions, seeks to rewrite history and present the invasion as something other than what it truly is—an imperial war of conquest aimed at erasing an independent nation from the map of Europe. The world must see through these distortions, not only out of solidarity with the Ukrainian people but out of respect for the basic principles of international order. The Ukrainian people did not choose this war, did not invite this destruction, and did not manufacture this crisis. They have simply chosen to be free, and for that choice, they have been subjected to a campaign of terror that has no justification and no parallel in recent European history. As Ukraine stands at this somber anniversary, the international community faces its own test—whether to accept the propaganda of the aggressor or stand with the democratic nation that continues to fight, against all odds, for its right to exist in peace and freedom. The choice should be obvious, for if Ukraine falls, the principles on which our shared international order is founded fall with it. The Ukrainian people have demonstrated time and